Veteran seamer to be assessed ahead of Ireland Test after limping out of Lancashire fixture

ESPNcricinfo staff14-May-2023James Anderson is a doubt for England’s first Test of the summer, starting against Ireland on June 1, after confirmation that he had suffered a “minor strain to his right groin” while playing for Lancashire.Anderson did not participate any further in the County Championship game against Somerset at Old Trafford after returning figures of 14-7-16-2 on day one. His absence was met with no official update of an injury until the ECB belatedly released the news on Sunday evening, less than three weeks before the game at Lord’s.England are expected to announce their squad to face Ireland next week, with Anderson, who went for a scan on Saturday, set to be “assessed nearer the time”, according to an ECB statement.With the Ashes beginning in little over a month, and Lancashire playing no first-class cricket between now and June 11, Anderson could struggle to prove his fitness ahead of the first Test of the series at Edgbaston.The injury will spark memories of Australia’s visit in 2019, when Anderson played the opener but bowled just four overs before suffering a series-ending calf strain. The 40-year-old, who is the third-highest wicket-taker in Test history, has played four out of five matches for Lancashire so far this season, claiming 16 wickets at 20.30.England are already likely to be without Jofra Archer for the start of the Ashes, after the fast bowler returned early from the IPL to continue rehabilitation on a longstanding elbow problem, while Olly Stone is expected to be out for a number of weeks due to a hamstring strain sustained while playing for Nottinghamshire.

Healy does not believe it’s the end of an era for Australia’s previously all-conquering team but admits they need to adapt and improve

Valkerie Baynes19-Jul-2023Stand-in captain Alyssa Healy believes Australia’s hard-fought retention of the Ashes could be their “reset moment”.After drawing the multi-format series with England on eight points each, the Australians kept the trophy they have held since 2015. But their grip is tenuous with Healy describing the result as feeling “a bit dirty” in the immediate aftermath of the final match in Taunton, with Australia losing both the T20I and ODI legs 2-1.Addressing a press conference once the dust had settled on their 69-run defeat in the rain-affected third ODI on Tuesday, Healy’s comments were more circumspect in light of suggestions Australia had lost their trademark fighting spirit and ruthlessness.Related

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“I think what this fighting spirit and what this ruthlessness of this team is going to look like moving forward might be slightly different to what we’ve seen in the past,” Healy said. “For us, it’s a great opportunity to sort of reflect and almost have a little mini reset moment of what this group is and what we look like now and what we want to achieve over the next four or five years in particular. I think it’s a really cool moment to do that.”Australia went ahead in the multi-format Ashes with an 89-run victory in the one-off Test at Trent Bridge which was worth four points, double that of each limited-overs fixture. They extended their lead to 6-0 by winning the first T20I at Edgbaston by four wickets with just one ball to spare. In both matches, the Australians were less clinical than they had been in recent years, which ultimately left them exposed as they lost the next three games.And despite Australia’s much-vaunted depth, Healy pointed out that the loss of Rachael Haynes to retirement and long-time captain Meg Lanning, a late withdrawal from the tour for undisclosed medical reasons, had left a big hole in her side, which still managed to muster enough of their trademark mettle to clinch the second ODI in Southampton by three runs on the final ball, thus ensuring they retained the Ashes.”You look at some of the changes that this group has seen over the last 12 months in particular, we’ve lost two of our most senior players, top-order batters in particular, in the space of 12 months,” Healy said. “We’re not sure if or when one of those might be coming back so we’ve had a little bit of chopping and changing. I guess the positive side is that we’re giving some experience to some young players that we’ve always seen the opportunity to play for Australia at some point, but they’re getting the opportunity probably a little sooner than they’d anticipated, so that’s a great thing.”There’s a few different feelings for me at the moment. Pride… we came here to do a job and we didn’t quite do it but we’ve got the trophy back within our grasp, which is obviously job number one done. We couldn’t quite get ourselves over the line in the white-ball stuff but overall I’m really proud of the way that the series unfolded. It’s been an amazing spectacle for cricket in general and it’s been really cool to be a part of. I sit here slightly excited and then slightly disappointed at the same time.”The difference has been that Australia came up against an England side who believed they could beat their all-conquering opponents and played accordingly, holding their nerve in some clutch moments more consistently than they had managed in the past. Having stripped Australia of their aura, or dented it at the very least, England went some way – how far depends on who you talk to – towards closing the gap between the sidesBut Healy, captain on this tour in Lanning’s absence, revealed the Australians felt they were more vulnerable in the T20s. They had been pushed by India in the semi-finals of the World Cup in February and the final of last year’s Commonwealth Games, and to them in a Super Over in December, which was their only defeat in their last 24 completed T20Is before they were beaten by England at The Oval and Lord’s. Their loss in the first ODI in Bristol ended a 15-game winning streak in the format and the Taunton result arrested a run of 21 victories while chasing in ODIs dating back to the 2017 Ashes when they also lost a rain-affected clash with England.England players celebrate after the final wicket fell•Getty Images

“I wouldn’t say an end of an era,” Healy said. “I think it’s probably maybe a little bit of a moment that we potentially needed.”We looked back on the T20 series and we felt like that might have been coming for a little while… I think we were going to need to look at how to adapt and continue to grow as a T20 side. But the one-day format probably hurt us a little bit because I think we’re still a really strong outfit and to play the way we did was obviously disappointing.”I think it’s a start of an era of English cricket. Definitely what they’re producing at the moment and the way they’re enjoying their cricket is great to watch and you can see other people turning up to come and see their team play, so that’s really exciting and for us, we’ll just learn from it and continue on hopefully being great.”Opposite number Heather Knight took no issue with the extra points weighting for the Test, saying it was the rules both sides played under, but she did believe that by winning both white-ball series, England had only confirmed her belief that there was no “gap” between the teams.”We’ve experienced quite a lot of hurt against Australia,” Knight said. “Obviously we haven’t got the Ashes but to play like we have done this summer has been hugely pleasing and the most exciting thing is we haven’t played our best cricket. Today was probably the closest but I think we’ve got a huge ceiling for this team to keep moving forward and keep improving.”The mindset we’ve got onto that works really well for us is definitely right but I still think we can learn how to do it slightly better in different situations at different points. But the way we’ve won really important key moments in games has been the biggest thing. That’s probably been the biggest gap between the two sides previously. We’ve worked a hell of a lot on that as a group and to see us really thrive in those moments and win them and be really calm and clear on what we need to do for the team in that moment has been hugely pleasing.”

England captain aces the chase with 75* to level the multi-format series

Vithushan Ehantharajah12-Jul-2023England 267 for 8 (Knight 75*, Beaumont 47, Gardner 3-42) beat Australia 263 for 8 (Mooney 81*, Sciver-Brunt 2-38) by two wickets England have squared the women’s Ashes at six-all with victory in the first ODI in Bristol by two wickets. And they did it by securing their highest-ever 50-over chase, inflicting a third consecutive defeat upon Australia, something they have not experienced since February 2017.Australia led 6-0 after winning the Test match and first T20I, but three successive victories have England back on par with two to play. And you only needed to look at the reaction of a usually calm Heather Knight, tossing her bat away after punching the final boundary through cover point and embracing her partner Kate Cross, to understand just how much this meant, and how much England have achieved to keep the Ashes alive.Knight’s unbeaten 75 was indicative of what needed to be a one-woman show in pursuit of their target of 264. But just as she was running out of partners at the other hand to simply exist with her, Cross strode out to pull, drive and even scoop her way to 19 not out as victory was secured with 11 deliveries to spare.As ever with nervy affairs, mistakes came in abundance. And most of them from the hosts. Australia’s innings was littered with seven missed chances. Beth Mooney was the recipient of two such gifts on her way to 81 not out that allowed Alyssa Healy’s side to post 263 for 8.It looked above-par, and when England threw away a brisk start of 103 for 1 in the 13th over, a retention of the Ashes trophy looked on the cards, as did some introspection from Knight’s charges as to how they let it slip away. But thanks to her – and Cross – all that can wait.The England captain overcame a run of four failures since 57 in the first innings of the Trent Bridge Test at the perfect time with her 28th 50-plus score in ODIs. Similarly Alice Capsey, who refound her touch with 46 not out at Lord’s, carried her form over in a turbo-charged second-wicket stand of 74 from 56 deliveries with Tammy Beaumont.The pair came together in the fourth over upon the wicket of Sophia Dunkley, by which point Australia’s opening quicks Darcie Brown and Ellyse Perry had provided England with 18 of their 29 runs to that point through extras. By the 10-over mark, the hosts had a new record powerplay score of 84. They went past Australia’s equivalent total of 63 for 1 midway through the eighth over – which Capsey took for 16 on her own with four boundaries, including three in a row at the start to knock Perry out of the attack.When Beaumont struck the first delivery of the 12th over down the ground for the first six of the match to take England to 100, before Capsey registered the second over long-on with a fielder stationed back, a squared series with two to play looked like a foregone outcome.But Beaumont’s dismissal in between those strikes and Capsey’s inability to clear long-on for a second time gave Australia a whiff. And when a stalwart stand between captain and vice-captain ended on 42 with the latter – Nat Sciver-Brunt – reverse-sweeping Jess Jonassen to Georgia Wareham around the corner, a familiar tension set in.Ellyse Perry celebrates the dismissal of Sophia Dunkley•Getty Images

Healy preyed on that anxiety, cycling through her options to frustrate and, eventually, draw a false shot from Danni Wyatt, who could not get enough on her shot to beat backward point, as Jonassen took a sharp low catch.Even at that stage, the ask was a manageable 70 off the final 16 overs. Knight found a four in each of the next two overs, meaning the wicket maiden Wareham sent down – accounting for Amy Jones – did not affect the required rate. A single to keep the strike with 11 overs to go took her to a half-century from 69 deliveries, with England still 47 away from victory.It was clear she would have to get the majority of them when Sophie Ecclestone, having been dropped on four, inexplicably went for a slog-sweep straight to the fielder at deep midwicket for five, and then Sarah Glenn punched straight to cover.But out came Cross, striking consecutive boundaries off Jonassen, who had only conceded a single four from her previous 38 deliveries. Knight slog-swept Ash Gardner over the fence at midwicket to shift matters England’s way, before Cross deftly guided one over the keeper and flayed the experienced Schutt through cover to level the scores. In a way, Cross leaving Knight to strike the winning runs off a full toss at the start of the next over encapsulated how considerate she had been to her captain at the death.Kate Cross nailed a lap-sweep to relieve the tension•PA Images/Getty

For England to have held their nerve was remarkable given they could not hold onto anything in the field. That they were not made to pay by a usually ruthless Australia is damning for the tourists’ stock in this series.A tacky pitch after heavy morning rains suited England’s spin-heavy attack, who made Australia work for their big shots. Cross’ removal of Healy in the first over – after the Australia captain had won the toss, opted to bat and hit two fours from the first three deliveries – ranked as a huge plus given this is the keeper-batter’s strongest format.But a litany of spurned chances, of varying difficulties, encouraged Australia to make England pay throughout. There were seven in total, though Cross’ full-length dive that just missed Perry’s shuffle-and-swat down the ground when the allrounder had 19, and Beaumont’s athleticism at backward point to stop a hard cut from Tahlia McGrath on seven were at the top end of the scale.Then again, so were some of those taken; Ecclestone leaping to pluck Phoebe Litchfield out of the sky at mid off with one hand, and Sciver-Brunt judging one over her shoulder running back from midwicket to eventually remove Perry on 41, after she had been missed again five runs earlier.Beth Mooney pulls one away•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

The costliest drops also happened to be the easiest ones. The first of Perry’s three lives came when Ecclestone put her down at first slip on six. But Mooney’s lives on 19 (dropped off a Glenn full toss by Cross at mid-off) and 39 (Jones missing a stumping after the left-hander ran past a delivery from Ecclestone) allowed her to see things through the 50 overs. From first miss to eventual dismissal, those two batters alone come to 97 extra runs together.The left-hander arrived at the crease at the start of the 13th over, and had to really work to squeeze every muscle and sinue to get what she got. Healy’s decision to bat first upon winning the toss was sound: the data backed up going first and getting a good total on the board, and without Mooney providing the backbone, the innings could have fallen away.That there were just six fours from her 99 deliveries spoke of the toil. Litchfield and Perry gave her a platform with a stand of 61 – the highest of the match – before Mooney ticked over with cameo innings from McGrath and Gardner.A minor blip of two wickets in three deliveries, as Gardner and Annabel Sutherland fell to Lauren Bell, was then negated by 55 runs between Mooney and Jonassen. And while they were kept under wraps for the final 10 overs, a burst of 29 from the final three, which included a brisk 12 off 6 from Wareham, pushed the total to 263.The women’s Ashes are not just alive, but all square. As we move to the Ageas Bowl for the second ODI on Sunday, there is one clear form team – and it is not the best team in the world.